The mid-week fixture also proved discomfort for the Blues, as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Bridge by a truncated Burnley squad and then the Goliath midfielder Nemanja Matic was sent off after pushing Burnley player Ashley Barnes. After reviewing the footage, it was a clear that Barnes committed a cynical foul which could have caused Matic a career defining injury. According to reports, Matic may face a 3-match ban in which Chelsea feature against Tottenham Hotspurs, West Ham United and Southampton.

However, let us now talk about the other Serb, the man on fire, the man who is creating furore at the Bridge, Branislav Ivanovic!!

Branislav Ivanovic was clearly the player of the match for Chelsea. He opened the scoring for Chelsea with a wonderful cross from Eden
Hazard. The Serbian was in the right place at the right time and all he had to do was give the right touch and convert the wonderful assist into a stunning goal.

Ivanovic has been consistently in hot form and is having an incredible goal tally. Ivanovic opened the goal scoring tallies for Chelsea in Paris as well as London and has been the only saving grace alongside Eden Hazard, who is 7/10 in his ordinary days.

Apart, from the goals Ivanovic has also been tidy in the defensive department. The right back was good and clean at the back and didn’t allow players to go past him easily. Ivanovic also curtailed some goal scoring runs from Scott Arfield and Michael Kightly.

Ivanovic’s stat from yesterday’s game:

Ivanovic Heatmap

Ivanovic put in 4 crosses out of which only one proved to be a key pass but couldn’t be finished. Ivanovic was tide at the back as he had 4 take-ons and one key tackle on Sam Vokes at crunching 87th minute. He only had one successful aerial duel which he won against Michael Kightly. Also, Ivanovic was booked with a yellow card at 71st minute. The most important stat for the Serbian has to be the match saving goal that he scored in the 14th minute.

Final Verdict:

Ivanovic was deservingly the player who radically changed the game for Chelsea and earned them the “bare-minimum” draw. He was the key linker between attack and defense and was Chelsea’s Player of the day. I would rate the Serbian 8.5/10.

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